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Blew $650 on a DNA kit subscription expecting to build a family tree, and my grandpa told me something that changed how I see it
Two years back I saw a sale on one of those DNA plus family tree bundles, $650 for the kit and a year of the middle tier plan, and I jumped on it. I told myself it would answer all the questions my family refuses to talk about, like where my grandma's people came from and why nobody says my grandpa's real first name. I sent in the spit, waited about five weeks, and got back a map with three broad regions on it, plus a list of hundreds of "possible 4th cousins" I have never met and probably never will. The tree part wanted me to pay extra to see any real records, and half the hints it gave me were just other people's trees that copied each other's mistakes. I called my grandpa to complain, and he laughed and said "I could have told you the whole thing for free," then started telling me about his dad coming over from Norway in 1923 with a trunk and eleven dollars. That one phone call gave me more than the whole year of the plan did. Has anyone here gone the other way, just sitting with relatives and recording them on your phone? I want to hear how you got them talking.
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mark_carr71mo ago
Used to roll my eyes at the idea of just talking to old folks. Figured a database could do it better and faster, and I dropped almost as much as you did on one of those kits. Then my aunt sat me down last Thanksgiving and started telling me about my great grandma hiding money in a flour sack during the Depression, and I sat there with my phone recording for two hours. That beat every hint and record search I ever paid for. All I had to do was ask one question and then keep my mouth shut. You got lucky with that phone call, most people wait too long and the stories go with them.
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